


now i wake up by your side

by 5ambreakdown



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: M/M, but he loves patrick, david hates mornings, post emmy’s fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26594527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5ambreakdown/pseuds/5ambreakdown
Summary: They’ve seen each other through panic attacks and evenings sobbing on the couch, through drunken nights and happiness beyond what either of them thought was ever possible. Goddamn are they happy....david and patrick had a long, difficult journey to get where they are now, but they would do it all again if it meant still finding each other.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer & David Rose, Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 8
Kudos: 128





	now i wake up by your side

**Author's Note:**

> so the emmy’s happened?? i’m so proud of the entire cast and crew. it was the one thing that weekend to bring me actual joy. i don’t think i’ll ever be able to express what it all means to me, so i instead wrote this.
> 
> enjoy the david and patrick fluff :)
> 
> title from “dress” by taylor swift

It’s a rare occasion that David wakes up before Patrick. Once they were fully moved in and settled into their cottage, he quickly found that Patrick’s 7am rise was him sleeping in. Apparently, the new permanency of David’s presence beside him in bed was enough to convince him he didn’t need to savor the moment. Less uncertainty, more security, less fleetingness: this was their new normal.

Patrick’s head is on his chest, one arm over his stomach and the other curled between them, their legs tangled together. David moves his arm, which is trapped underneath Patrick, so that it comes up to his husband’s back, absentmindedly drawing circles with his fingertips. His head falls to the side, resting close enough to the head on his chest to smell his hair and hear the faint snores. David moves his free arm (which was hanging off the side of bed when he awoke) to caress Patrick’s cheek, following along his jawline and up to play with his short hair. He breathes in contentedly, smiling softly at the slow, pleasant morning. 

Normally he would groan at the realization that he woke up just after the sun, but he doesn’t care right now. Because right now, he’s in bed, his husband sleeping peacefully against his chest, in their house before needing to prepare for the day at their business.

Who the fuck would have guessed this for him?

It’s incredible, really, for him to actually stop and think about how far he’s come. He came to this town after his world was ripped out from under him. He tried to make the best of it, but that resulted in him fleeing in the mayor’s truck to the Amish. He felt stuck, like all of his fuck ups in life finally caught up to him to throw one giant middle finger in his face. He couldn’t escape a family that, until Schitt’s Creek, had been distant at best and hostile, completely apathetic at worst; he nearly irreversibly messed up a relationship with the only person in town (in his life, really) who he genuinely liked and cared about; and he had no one to go back to. His life in New York was never his. His parents bought what he used to consider his successes, and the people in his life used him, wringing him dry until he had nothing left to give them.

For years, he thought he needed to prove to those people that he wasn’t worthless, that he was capable of greatness and love, that he was _worthy_ of love. So he settled. He settled for anyone who bothered to stay, even if it was never actually for him. He settled for a life that didn’t make him happy, just one that was easy to fake a smile through. He settled for a cruel, unforgiving city because at least then he could drown out his own loneliness and dissatisfaction.

When they moved to Schitt’s Creek, he became okay with letting his guard down around his family and Stevie. He felt more relaxed in front of Twyla, Ted, Ronnie, Jocelyn, and hell even Roland, not rehearsing and second guessing everything he said and did around them. For the first time, he felt he had room to breathe and not be criticized for it. 

He was still defensive around new people, but it was an old survival skill he was fine with keeping. They both laugh about it now (though, more than anything really, it breaks Patrick’s heart), but he deployed the same unconfidence and defensiveness the first time he met Patrick, the person he can’t imagine his life without. David’s normal wit and sarcasm was masked by apprehension, despite Patrick’s subtle (for David, at least) attempts at flirting. Slowly and then not so slowly, Patrick chipped away at that until there was no wall to be seen.

By this point, there is nothing that Patrick doesn’t know. Every trauma, every ex, every gallery, every fear has been shared between them. They’ve seen each other through panic attacks and evenings sobbing on the couch, through drunken nights and happiness beyond what either of them thought was ever possible. Goddamn are they happy.

Patrick didn’t even know you could be this happy. For fleeting moments, maybe, but not this constant, secure happiness, and certainly not at the smallest of things. He didn’t know his heart could flutter at the sight of David groggily sitting up in bed when brought coffee, or how glancing over at his husband dusting off the shelves at the store, sunlight streaming across his face, could wreck him by the absolute beauty of it. He didn’t know kisses were supposed to make you feel warm and safe and so, so loved. All of this felt so right and easy with David. He didn’t have to force anything or guess what he was supposed to do - he just knew it, not because it’s what everyone in his life told him he should be doing, but because he loved David.

David could feel Patrick grin against his chest, feeling him stir slightly. He matched his husband’s smile. “Good morning, honey,” he says softly. David used to hate pet names used by anyone but his parents - he always thought they were so forced and condescending - but it felt so natural with Patrick. Everything feels so natural with Patrick.

Patrick hums. “Good morning, love. You’re up early,” he says through a yawn, eyes still closed and arm wrapped around David just a little bit tighter.

David hums back, adjusting himself just enough so that he is closer to him. 

_Love_. It always fills him with an unparalleled warmth. Patrick’s called him that with such casualness at the store around customers; in eagerness after victorious baseball games during the barbecue; tenderly around their families during the holidays and birthdays, always an arm or hand placed somewhere on David; whispered in sweaty bed sheets and fast beating hearts; low and raspy as he’s just waking up. So many times in so many different ways yet David never grows weary of it. 

“What time is it?” Patrick asks, reluctantly propping himself up on one elbow and away from the direct warmth of his husband.

“Mmm, just before 6:30.” David twists his face at realizing just how early he woke up, which only makes Patrick laugh. “What?”

Patrick just shakes his head, leaning down for a kiss. When they pull apart, David sits up to rest against the headboard. They still have time before either of them need to get up, so he settles back down, his head against David’s shoulder. Their fingers intertwine, bodies leaning in to each other. Patrick closes his eyes, the feeling of David idly playing with Patrick’s wedding ring nearly lulling him back to sleep.

Not all of it was easy, but all of it was right. Even with Rachel, and David’s walls and general distrust, and Patrick’s parents, they were all just obstacles. And if it brought them to _this_ , to what felt like infinite love and happiness better than any romcom David could rattle off, they would do it a thousand times over. Because for once, they were both completely, utterly safe and known, and nothing could ever compare to that.


End file.
